Lavonne Holcomb

Memorial services for Ms. Wanda LaVonne Swopes Holcomb, 80, of Jennings will be held on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Moss Bluff.

Memorial visitation will begin on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. and continue until the time of service at 11:00 a.m.

The daughter of Robert G. and Doris Sierman Swopes, LaVonne grew up in Oklahoma.  Her childhood was spent helping on the farm, raising livestock, and keeping up with her brothers.  After graduating from Shidler High School in 1958, she enrolled and later graduated from Ponca City Business College.

She went to work for Continental Oil Company in Ponca City where she met, then married Jim Holcomb who would later become her former husband after 41 years of marriage.

She was blessed to adopt twin sons, Michael and Gary, in 1971 after she moved to Louisiana.  LaVonne was forever grateful and thankful to their birth mother for giving them life. She was a kindhearted woman and a loving mother.

She spent countless nights sleeping in and on various pieces of plush hospital furniture to remain at Michael’s bedside while he was treated for leukemia at Texas Children’s Hospital.

She believed every item purchased should be accompanied by a coupon, and she had at least two coupons for every item sold in stores.  Her record keeping was not of this world. Every purchase greater than $25 had the receipt, original packaging, and a brief provenance written on a slip of paper and kept with the item.

Later in life, her adaptability proved to be an eternal resource as she made friends with all she encountered whether it was in the suburbs of Houston, the quiet streets of Stillwater, or the laid-back, slow pace of Jennings.  She made the most of her time in the places she lived.  The was evident during the 5 years she lived in New Orleans, specifically in the Central City neighborhood.  Living a mere 3 blocks from St. Charles Avenue, she was a dedicated reveler for dozens of parages that rolled Uptown during Carnival each year and a frequent streetcar passenger.

LaVonne frequently told those around her to be glad for each day you live and to enjoy being alive.  She would say life has its share of sorrows but there is way more joy if you just open yourself up to it.  She lived 29, 487 days and she counted the last 9,936 days as the most enjoyable of her life as that marked the beginning of being a grandmother.

Those left to cherish her memory are her son Gary (Elizabeth Roche) Holcomb, grandchildren Jordyn, Dylan, Nora and Lucy and her brother Clarence (Gwen) Swopes.

She was preceded in death by her son, Michael Robert Holcomb; her parents; and two brothers, Fred and Bobby Joe Swopes.

It was LaVonne’s wish that any memorial tributes be made to the Michael Robert Holcomb Endowed Fund for Leukemia Research at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The family has entrusted her cremation to Miguez Funeral Home of Jennings.  Lavonne will be interned next to her son in Ritchie Cemetery in Moss Bluff.